Health, lifestyle, family and school factors in adolescence: predicting adult educational level

Background Education fundamentally shapes an individual's life chances and social status. Duration and level of education are associated with people's incomes, socio-economic status, living standard, lifestyle and the respect and esteem they enjoy. Failure to fulfil educational potential m...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Educational research (Windsor) 2006-03, Vol.48 (1), p.41-53
Main Authors: Huurre, Taina, Aro, Hillevi, Rahkonen, Ossi, Komulainen, Erkki
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Academic Achievement
Adolescence
Adolescents
Adult education
Adulthood
Education
Educational Attainment
Educational level
Educational sciences
Equal Education
Ethnic minority, racial problems, cultural differences
Experience
Family Characteristics
Finland
Followup Studies
Forecasts
Foreign Countries
Grade 9
Health
Institutional Characteristics
Longitudinal studies
Mental Health
Physical Health
Predictive factors
Predictor Variables
Questionnaires
Social status
Socioeconomic Status
Sociology of culture
Sociology of education
Student Characteristics
Youth
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Summary:Background Education fundamentally shapes an individual's life chances and social status. Duration and level of education are associated with people's incomes, socio-economic status, living standard, lifestyle and the respect and esteem they enjoy. Failure to fulfil educational potential may have long-term consequences for later occupational and social life, as well as creating problems for society at large. Purpose The aim of this prospective follow-up study was to investigate which health, lifestyle, family and school factors in adolescence had the strongest impact on educational level attained in adulthood. Sample The original study population included all 9th-grade school pupils aged 16 years attending secondary school in spring 1983 in Tampere, Finland (n = 2269). Subjects were followed up at 32 years of age in 1999 (n = 1471). Design and methods In 1983, 2194 pupils (96.7%) with a mean age of 15.9 years (SD 0.3 years) completed questionnaires during school hours. The questionnaire included questions about psychological and somatic health, lifestyle, family background, school factors and life events. In 1999, postal questionnaires were sent to the same study population when they were 32 years old. The follow-up questionnaire included basically the same questions about health and lifestyle as in adolescence and age-appropriate versions of questions about social relations and life events. Education was measured by the highest level of attained education. The follow-up cohort totalled 2091 persons (92%), and the response rate was 70.3% (n = 1471). The univariate associations between independent variables in adolescence and attained educational level in adulthood were analysed using the χ 2 test, and Student's t-test where appropriate. Multivariate logistic regression analyses using forward stepwise procedure were used to determine which factors in adolescence had the strongest impact on adult educational level. Results Several health, lifestyle, family and school factors in adolescence were univariately associated with educational attainment in adulthood. Multivariate analyses showed that, in both genders, low school achievement and manual class of origin were the strongest predictors of low educational level in adulthood. Additional significant predictors among females were poor perceived health status, spending less leisure-time on hobbies and more on dating, and among males, poor relationships with teachers and heavy drinking. Conclusions Mid-adolesce
ISSN:0013-1881
1469-5847
DOI:10.1080/00131880500498438